New Ulm Cathedral head football coach Denny Lux said that Friday’s 34-0 win over Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart was a real team effort.

“We felt that defensively we played a good game,” he said. “Our defensive ends took a major step in the right direction this week. BLHS comes at you with that wishbone and forced our defensive line to play a solid game. Our defensive ends Ike Kirschtein and Henry Forst played really well — that was what we needed to have those guys push that backfield to the inside towards Lane Ruch and Camden Berg.”

And while the defense forced a shutout, junior quarterback Eli Anderson made some positive strides in his second varsity start.

“They forced us to throw and we responded real well,” Lux said. “Eli threw the ball well throwing to [Josh] Forstner, [Alex] Portner and [Andrew] Stern.”

Anderson capped his night with 222 yards passing and two touchdowns and rushed for one score.

Junior running back Alex Portner rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown.

“We used all three of our offensive sets and tried to mix up things,” Lux said. “We also did some different things in our Wing-T look and did some different types of pulling in our spread look — it was a positive game as they played a real physical game.”

And Lux was pleased with the shutout by his defense.

“[BLHS] released tight ends and released backs out of the backfield and our secondary did a good job picking those guys up,” Lux said. “They run, run, run and then try to sneak some guys by you. And we did well on the line of scrimmage because that is where it starts — this was the kind of game that we needed because we are still a work in progress.

“There is no doubt that there are things that we can do better and as our guys get more experience that will benefit us in the long run.”

EAGLES FALL IN FAIRMONT

New Ulm Eagles head football coach Derek Lieser said that his team made to many mistakes in their 43-8 road loss to a very good Cardinals team.

“When you play a good football team and you have four turnovers and do not force any yourself, you are going to find yourself in tough situations,” Lieser said. “It was disappointing from an execution standpoint.”

Lieser said that the turnovers started on the Eagles first offensive series after New Ulm stopped Fairmont inside the Eagles’ red zone.

“We got a stop inside the 10-yard line — we had a trick play drawn up — and our receiver got behind both of their safeties — but we had a turnover right away.”

Lieser said that on the Eagles second offensive series Fairmont got a pick-6.

“Three of our four interceptions were in the first half and we dug ourselves a hole being down 25-0 at halftime,” Lieser said. “We shot ourselves in the foot with penalties — delay of game and missed pass protections.”

Lieser said that the loss was not because his team was not ready but rather that his team did not execute the way they needed too to beat a good football team.

“They are good at what they do,” Lieser said about Fairmont. “But I thought that we had a good game plan, we just did not execute. We are not that far off — we just have to execute at a higher level. Football is a team game and if you have 10 guys doing what they are supposed to and one guy messes up his job, that is where negative plays happen.”

CHARGERS STILL GROWING

Minnesota Valley Lutheran head football coach Jim Buboltz felt that some of the Chargers youth showed again in a 26-14 road loss to Le Sueur-Henderson Friday night

“We thought that we were going to score right before half and give us some momentum, but we had a turnover before half,” he said. “That led to a touchdown for them right before half — that took some wind out of our sail.

“We had more positive things than negative, but we need to find some consistency on the offensive side of the ball.”

Buboltz said it was too many turnovers.

“And that comes with youth — we need to get some more reps on the offensive side of the ball with our younger players.”

Buboltz was happy with the play of his defense Friday.

“Our defense played a lot better,” he said. “We bent but did not break. We forced three turnovers and the defense made some nice steps forward and if they keep doing that they are going to keep us in some games.”

Buboltz said the team is still going through some growing pains.

“If we can get things clicking better offensively and consistently, I think that this team has a chance to do something,” he said. “Right now we are going through growing pains. We need to put these younger players in the position to succeed and when we do that we wil be more consistent.”

Buboltz felt that Blake Sexton had a fantastic first half for the Chargers.

“He caught a touchdown pass and had two interceptions, and defensively, Kaleb Hunter really fortified things in the middle,” Buboltz said. “And Eli [Schauland, MVL quarterback] has some things to build on as his confidence grows.”